1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiments relate to a method and system for transmitting the result of examination of a specimen from a medical device to a destination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ubiquitous healthcare (U-Health) integrates information technology (IT) with health and medical care to provide healthcare services such as prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up management of diseases. With dissemination of the U-Health concept, an increasing number of medical devices that are used inside or outside a hospital tend to be connected to one another via a network. However, when a medical device for providing examination and diagnosis functions is installed outside of a medical institution such as a hospital, i.e., is located within an ambulance, a retail clinic, etc., the medical device may have difficulty or a limitation in connecting with the medical institution through a network.
That is, the result of a medical examination that is provided by a medical device may be sent indirectly to medical staff through a telephone or printed material, or directly to a medical institution via a network. In the latter case, the examination results are transmitted only to a specified hospital. According to a conventional technique for transmitting results of medical examination from a medical device to a medical institution via a network, the medical device and a mobile phone within an ambulance are connected via Bluetooth so that the mobile phone receives the result of a medical examination from the medical device and simply conveys the same to a pre-specified medical institution. In other words, the mobile phone is only a medium through which the result of the medical examination is transmitted from the medical device to the pre-specified medical institution. Thus, if a patient is transported to a hospital other than the medical institution by the ambulance, the transmission of the examination results is useless.
Furthermore, since it is important that a medical device undergoes a quality control to ensure that the medical device maintains a predetermined level of quality, it is recommended for a user to periodically carry out a quality control test of the medical device. In an ambulance environment, the result of examination of a patient will be transmitted to a hospital to which the patient will be transported. However, the result of quality control testing of medical devices may be conveyed to a place other than the hospital, i.e., an organization responsible for management of the medical devices. For example, if a firehouse rescue center operates an ambulance, and a patient is transported to an unspecified number of hospitals, the result of quality control testing and the result of examination of the patient will have to be separately transmitted to different locations, respectively.
FIG. 1 is schematic diagram of a configuration in which a medical device 101 transmits the result of examination of a specimen to a destination, according to a conventional art.
If the medical device 101 examines a specimen to transmit the result of examination to a repeater 103, the repeater 103 then transmits the result of examination to a pre-specified hospital, i.e., hospital A. When the medical device 101 and the repeater 103 are installed in an ambulance outside a hospital, the medical device 101 transmits the result of examination to the repeater 103 via Bluetooth communication, which in turn transmits the result of examination to a pre-specified hospital via a wireless communication network. The repeater 103 generally takes the form of a mobile phone. In this case, if the patient is transported to a hospital other than the pre-specified one by an ambulance, the transmission of the examination results is useless.